Attending Other Land Development Meetings on G.A.C.A.’s behalf: Chris McCann and Ron Poirier

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.

2. Welcome to All:

Our new President, Scott Blurton, welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2016.

3. Approval of the Agenda: Moved by Darlene. Seconded by Maeve.

4. Minutes from the November 18th meeting-

Thank you to Peggy Kampouris (Co-secretary).

Minutes moved by Darlene. Seconded by Maeve.

5. Business Arising from the Last Meeting:

Application for Civic Funding

The application for 2016 had been submitted by our Past President, Sylvia Milne.

Unfortunately, our application for “Civic Funding” for an event in our park in 2016 was denied. Brenda presented the letter Sylvia had received from the City of Ottawa, to the board. The event needs to be tied into a long weekend.

Sixty-four applications were received totalling $157,000. The total amount available was $50,000.

Any future event in our park will have to come out of G.A.C.A. funds. We will still need a permit for any event.

In regards to storage of these types of letters from the City, it was proposed that some sort of binder be kept so that all of these letters can be filed by the names of committees. Darlene will set up a binder and use previous documents she had received from our past secretary, Lisa Furrie.

New Park Space from Federal Land

A response was received from Ken Slemko. Sue Stefko (our Parks’ Chair) had responded to this email inquiry. She has not heard back yet from the office of our new Ottawa Centre Member of Parliament, Catherine McKenna.

Action Item: Scott will follow up with the G.C.A. to make sure it is on the agenda and discussed at their next meeting on January 29th.

Henry Lane Concerns

1) The Absence/Malfunctioning of lights on Henry Street for several nights in a row in January.

This matter was attended to by the city, subsequent to Maeve’s call.

2) The Lack of Lighting on Henry Lane.

The initial concern was brought forward by longtime resident, Mrs. Schnobb, who passed away over Christmas. Maeve first called the city about it back in August. The contact there said it was not city property, so not the city’s responsibility. The person also said that there was no hydro pole there. Maeve called the person back in the fall and mentioned there was a hydro pole (or at least what she thought was a hydro pole). Then, when she called in January regarding the lack of/malfunctioning of lighting on Henry Street, she took the opportunity to again raise the Henry Lane lighting issue. The voicemail received in response to that repeated that it was not city property.

Sue Stefko has obtained further information and has forwarded it to Peggy.

Action Item: Maeve will follow up with Peggy from Sue on this file. The urgency has lowered because Mrs. Schnobb, the person most concerned with this issue, has passed away. In the past, her son had put up the light. Neighbours are still interested in pursuing this matter.

Recommendation: Look into police incident reports for the area to support contention that lighting is needed.

Discussion of the threat from break-ins in the area. Residents are invited to report any

suspicious activity to the police.

Other Business

6. Treasurer’s Report

Since Chris was attending another very important meeting on our behalf, we will be reviewing our balance at next month’s meeting. As of January 19th, there had been no changes. Full report next month.

Maeve mentioned that the owner of the Lieutenant’s Pump, John Couse, had donated $50 to G.A.C.A. A suggestion was to send a Thank You card to him.

Action Item: Brenda will take care of sending a GACA branded card with Scott’s signature.

7. Planning and Development:

Demolition of 93, 99, 103 and 105 Norman Street

The City has received our comments regarding the demolition. This is the site of the Taggart development approved for that location. The OMB appeal by the Dalhousie Association begins the week of February 1st.

The Bronson Phase II

The meeting scheduled for last week, was canceled.

770 Bronson Development

Chris McCann attended this meeting, representing the GACA Board. Some items to note which he forwarded to the Board:

The Community Consultation for the development proposal at 770 Bronson (formerly Emilio Lindia Enterprises, or auto repair garage at Bronson and Carling) included the Glebe Community, Dows Lake and Glebe Annex and was hosted by 8 representatives of the developer, FOTENN, TCUnited, JABER and the City.

The developer proposes a building of 85 rental units with 9′ ceilings and luxury amenities. The rental units would be a mix of 2 bedroom (800 sq ft), 1 bedroom (600 to 700 sq ft) and bachelor apartments plus 350 sq ft micro suites. There would be balconies facing East, North and South.

There would be 3 levels of underground parking, necessitating excavating and blasting to a depth of 45 metres.

The proposal asks the City for 3 variances from the zoning bylaw. These variances are:

1) changing the building height from 27.5 m (or 9 storeys) to 15 storeys – a 67% increase in height over the regulation

2) changing the provision for total parking – resident plus visitors – from 57 to 32 – a reduction of 44%

3) changing the maximum floor space index from 3.15 to 5.34 – an increase of 70%

[Why does the City have development rules if developers are allowed to violate these rules?]

Entrance to the underground parking would be by turning right off Carling Ave and exit from the building would be by turning right onto Bronson Ave. So if a resident wanted to leave the building and go downtown or go west of the center core they will cut through established residential neighbourhoods such as Dows Lake, the Glebe and Glebe Annex.

There is provision for a publicly accessible retail space on the second floor, perhaps a coffee shop but no attendant parking as it is assumed that all patrons, employees and trades people would commute via foot or bicycle.

Building would start in 2017 finishing in 2018. The community consultation was well attended by vocal and polite residents.

Ryan Rutherford of TC United 613 986 2527 or 613 680 5582 or ryan.rutherford@tcunitedgroup.com is open to dialogue.

Sound Barrier and Queensway

Ron Poirier is attending a meeting by the Ministry of Transportation regarding the sound barrier on the 417, running concurrently with this meeting.

He will report back to us at the next meeting.

Lebreton Development

Members are encouraged to watch the online webcast and participate in the online questionnaire regarding the proposals. Scott had expressed his interest but he will need to go to the GCA meeting that night. He will find someone to go. GACA will need to review the proposals before rendering its position.

8. Membership – Brenda Quinlan

Brenda reported that we are in a crisis. We are short of members and people on the board. She had a few suggestions to improve our situation:

1. Recruit people from the Lakelander:

Brenda will send Marni Crossley, President, an email.

The problem is that we don’t have anyone else from some of the other major

apartment buildings and condominiums. We need eleven canvassers for membership.

Brenda’s suggestion: Send an email to our current members. We are not having success with our website. We need to review how we’re doing that. Brenda is looking to do a direct email to members.

2. Hold a “Canvassing Campaign” in May.

Scott will participate. We rejected PayPal as an option. We need canvassers. Scott will check with Abbas to sit outside in the springtime to sell memberships and be available to answer questions, like an “Outdoor Open House”.

Two options: Canvass over a month or canvass during a one-day blitz.

Action Items: This will be discussed further at the next meeting. Brenda and Chris can only vote by proxy for the next 2 months. She recommended sending an email by the end of March.

Darlene will look into getting the email membership list from Lisa. Scott will inquire into logins for the GACA website and Twitter.

Scott will write a letter entitled, “From the President” for the Glebe Report and for a mass email to members.

9.Ottawa 2017 Program

There is nothing new to report on Ottawa 2017 at this time. Details are available in Appendix A from the “Ottawa 2017 Presentation” in the November 18th minutes.

10.Bike Rodeo (Part of CanBike Program by Cycling Canada)

The “Bike Rodeo” is not under the “Ottawa 2017” initiative. Brenda has been in contact with the woman who can provide the funds for this initiative.

Action Item: Need for setting a date. Saturday May 28th or Saturday June 4th.

May 28th is the preference.

Weekday Event? Whole afternoon workshop for adults. This would be great for the retired people who are available. Brenda suggested June 9th or 17th for an adult session.

11. Parks

Sue Stefko has been keeping us in the loop by forwarding to Darlene all of the emails from the G.P.C. Meetings (Minutes) and any new updates.

She attended the last Glebe Parks’ Committee on behalf of GACA in December. The committee had investigated the issue and concluded that the Dalhousie South Park did not fit the defined criteria for the “Pop-Up Parklet” initiative, due our park’s location. The pop-up parks idea is meant to go along busy streets, and turn them into temporary cafes or gathering spaces – not parks. The Parks committee figured it wasn’t a good match because we don’t have any busy commercial streets in our area. The “Pop-Up Parklet” is meant for something like Bank Street, for instance.

Fall Cleanup Update

Our group, thanks to Sue Stefko, won a draw prize for submitting its fall clean-up report. A draw will be held at our next board meeting for all those in our community who participated.

Spring 2016 Cleanup Campaign: Runs April 15th to May 15th.

G.A.C.A.’s date will be Saturday,May 7th with a rain date of Saturday, May 14th.

Darlene Charron will be assisting with coordination and will fill out our online application when the City of Ottawa’s “Spring Cleaning the Capital” website is up around March 15th.

She will also be attending the Tim Horton’s 2015 Cleaning the Capital Recognition Event on behalf of G.A.C.A., at Ottawa City Hall on Tuesday, January 26th.

12. FCA Reportand the Glebe Report

Action Item: Scott will send a letter in point form to Doug Milne within two days. Doug has kindly offered to write up our news and developments for submission to the Glebe Report.

Suggestion: Post the latest news on a bulletin board at Abbas. Mention that residents will be soliciting help for canvassing. We encourage participation from our community.